Who Would've Guessed?
by AlexCub
Summary: When the doorbell rings at any time, Alex has learned to be wary. It was, after all, the ring of a doorbell that marked the beginning of a year playing spy. So when the doorbell rings one evening at Ben's apartment, Alex is understandably cautious. What could it possibly lead to this time?
1. We have guests?

**We have Guests?**

Alex was in his room studying the course work he'd missed but after an hour of reading the material his mind began to wander. He thought back on the past year of his life; from his fourteenth birthday; to Ian's death then briefly flashing over his missions to Jack's death. He wondered when exactly it'd all gotten so messed up and resulted in the loss of one of his closest friends and few people he still trusted.

Clearing his head, he decided he should be grateful, not for what he had lost as he knew that could never be returned; rather for what he had left. After all he was still alive, had been left alone by the intelligence agencies, had a place to live and Ben. Yes, he had Ben and that was definitely something he was grateful for.

Over the three months that had passed since Jack's death, he had accepted Ben's surprising offer to take him in and gradually adapted to living with the man – who he had found out was only 23. Which, if he was being perfectly honest with himself, he found easier than it had been with Jack. There was no need to hide details from his missions since He'd signed the official Secrets Act too and living with a former SAS turned MI6 agent did give him a little reassurance.

At first he'd been guarded, but soon enough he trusted the man enough to let his guard drop every so often and when he had, Ben had been nothing but understanding, never digging for more, just listening and giving him much needed assurance. It was safe to now say he fully trusted Ben and viewed him as an older brother – it was the closest he would ever get to a father figure.

Said man was currently at the bank, as he had been all day, leaving Alex at home with his coursework and hadn't mentioned to be expecting any visitors. Which is why Alex immediately became wary as he heard the shrill tone of the doorbell. He left the room and went downstairs as silently as he could; they didn't have to know anyone was home. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and stashed it up his sleeve, feeling a bit better now he had something to defend himself with.

Padding up to the door, he silently cursed Ben for not having thought to place a peep hole in the door. At least that would've given him a chance to recognise whoever it was, if he happened to know them. Sighing he opted to listen instead, hoping to gain some knowledge of whoever was at the door through their voice. He could pick out three distinctive voices which he seemed to recognise but try as he might, could not remember where from.

Stepping back and adjusting his grip on the knife, he undid the chain on the door and pushed down the handle. Slowly he pulled the door open, ready to attack if he needed but now more curious as to who would be visiting Ben on this day. Opening it up all the way he paused momentarily as he glanced at who stood outside.

Still dressed in full SAS gear, it was K-Unit.


	2. Its You!

**It's you!**

**I've tried to make this one longer, since the first chapter was so short.**

Judging from their expressions they were just as surprised as he was, perhaps even more so. A flicker of shock flashed in Snake's eyes while Wolf's had widened considerably. Eagle, on the other hand, was gaping.

After his initial surprise wore off, he realised that there was no reason for them not to be here. They were Ben's former unit after all; they were bound to be close. He looked up again and Snake was the first one to recover, addressing him with a "Cub", accompanied by a curt nod. This seemed to snap the other two out of whatever trance they were in and brushed past him as he stepped aside to let them in.

Following them into the living room, he glanced at their profiles. Wolf was the shortest, he'd say about 5 10", with cropped black hair and grey eyes. Snake was fair haired with pale green eyes and about 6 foot. Eagle was somewhere between 6 and 6 1", brunette with sea green eyes. All three built in typical soldier physique.

Once he'd completed his brief assessment, he noticed they were still standing awkwardly and offered them a seat, "I'm sure Ben wouldn't mind" he said. Turning around and fully intending to go back upstairs, leaving K-Unit here for Ben to find.

Wolf's eyes narrowed at the mention of Ben, as if it'd reminded him once again that they were, in fact, in Ben's apartment. "Not so fast, Cub"

"You can't just leave us hanging, what's with the whole 'quiet and mysterious' act?" Eagle chimed in, seeming to have regained the ability to speak. Snake simply watched on, interested to hear his answer.

Alex just shook his head; he definitely did not trust the unit enough to reveal anything of importance. "I live here" and that was all he was willing to concede.

"With Fox?" Wolf asked, sounding suspicious.

"With Ben"

"Why?"

"For reasons that do not concern you"

"Why the hell not? You are part of our unit; we have a right to know!" Wolf growled.

"I think you made it clear that I was most certainly not part of your unit the last time" Alex's voice had taken on a colder tone. They had the decency to look ashamed and Alex continued with a smirk "besides, if I told you then I'd have to kill you"

Wolf glared, Eagle paled and Snake looked faintly amused.

"Are you threatening us Cub?" Wolf asked slowly.

"What if I am?" Alex replied with a completely straight face.

He was met with blank stares, before the soldiers realised he was just messing with their heads.

"Why you!" Wolf lunged forward in an attempt to grab Alex but he merely stepped aside, sending Wolf sprawling onto the couch.

"A bit slow there Wolf, is it the age or just bad coordination?" another smirk graced his face. Winding up Wolf was just too good an opportunity to pass up and ridiculously easy. Who knew it'd be so entertaining?

Wolf stood up and straightened his uniform, bristling with anger and looked ready to throttle Alex if not for Snake holding him back, all the while trying to contain his own laughter. Eagle didn't even bother trying to hide it and was openly chuckling at his leader's expense.

Eventually Wolf calmed down, but still kept the glare on his face; Snake let go, keeping a restraining hand on his shoulder and Eagle cut in "As much fun as this has been, you still haven't answered our question Cub"

"I think you'll find that I have, it just wasn't the answer you wanted"

Eagle seemed set on pushing it further but Snake intervened "Alright Cub, can you at least tell us why you won't answer?"

"Partly because I'm not sure what's classified and what's not right now but mostly because I don't want to"

"Don't want to?"

Alex shook his head.

"What kind of reason is that?"

"One that I'd like you to respect. Now if you don't mind, I was busy before you arrived" with that Alex turned to leave once again, leaving the three soldiers standing. One puzzled one curious and one majorly ticked off.

This was when Ben walked in to see his young charge attempting to walk out on his former unit. Chuckling to himself he took Alex by the arm, led him inside and pushed him onto the couch. Now K-Unit were staring at him as well.

"Fox, we came to see you" Wolf greeted.

"Really? I thought it was to see me" Alex asked with a slight pout.

"Shut it Cub"

"I gathered as much" replied Ben, still chuckling.

"Well since we're all here now, we may as well have some sort of unit reunion" Eagle suggested.

Despite the weird looks he received, Ben nodded enthusiastically. "But Ben!" Alex groaned.

"Alex!" he replied in the same fashion.

Snake shrugged, "We may finally get some answers" looking pointedly at Alex.

Wolf just grunted. Taking this as a positive confirmation, Ben headed into the kitchen to fetch four beers and a Coke.

Seeing the Coke, K-Unit sniggered. "Too young to drink Cub?"

"As a matter of fact I am"

"Wait what?"

"What?"

"What what?"

"I don't know what"

"What do you mean you don't know what?"

"I mean I don't know what you mean"

"What I mean?"

"Yes what do you mean?"

"Wha- Oh just forget it!"

"Ok now that's settled. Why are you here?" Alex asked quickly, before they realised what they'd forgotten.

"We're on leave, starting today"

"And we decided to take the opportunity to visit Fox"

"What took you so long? I'm almost hurt guys!" Ben sniffed.

"Well..." Wolf started growing.

"This is the first leave we've been granted since you took off" Snake continued.

"Which was...oh I don't know. Let's see, almost six months ago!" Eagle finished, clearly frustrated. He wasn't the only one.

No longer joking, Ben cleared his throat, "I guess we all owe each other some explanations"

"Owe? I don't owe them anything!" Alex exclaimed, jumping up.

"But I think we'd better start with the basics" Ben continued as though Alex hadn't reacted.

Glaring indignantly at K-Unit, who now seemed far more interested in what Ben had to say, Alex sank back down into the couch. "Fine." He grumbled to himself.

"Right, I do believe introductions are in order"


	3. You're One of Us Too

**You're One of Us**

No one spoke.

Ben took it upon himself to start. Clearing his throat he said "Seeing as no one else is willing to share, I'll go first. I'm Ben Daniels"

The others stared at him for a moment then Eagle spoke "Ethan Myers"

Then Snake "Jason Steele"

Then Wolf "Luke Burns"

Finally Alex "My name's Alex. Alex Rider"

Another awkward silence ensued.

"Is anyone going to share anything or do I have to start again?"

Clearing his throat, Wolf started - albeit reluctantly. "I'm 25"

Everyone continued to stare at him.

"What?"

"Is that all?"

He simply shrugged in return.

"Me too. 25, same as Wolf here" shrugged Snake.

"24" was all Eagle said and turned to look at Alex.

"15" he said cautiously, whilst gauging their reactions silently in his head.

On the whole, they didn't seem too surprised.

At his raised eyebrow, Snake explained "We figured you were underage when you came to train with us: you weren't the tallest kid and you definitely didn't look old enough."

Eagle picked up "And since the minimum age is 16, you couldn't have been too much younger"

Wolf continued "So if you'd asked then, we would've said you were 15 and I guess we were only a year off"

"You knew how old I was!"

"We guessed how old you were"

"Yet you still went out of your way to pick on me!" Alex accused.

"I'll admit we ignored you, but we never did anything more." Snake said, slightly confused now.

"In our defence, you were a kid who'd been tacked onto our unit" Eagle stated.

"Meaning that any mistakes on your part and we would've all been held accountable" Snake explained again.

"We never actually hurt you …" Eagle trailed off, seeing Alex glare at Wolf.

Wolf shifted uncomfortably but did not say anything. Alex's glare intensified.

Seeing as they weren't likely to get any answers from either of them, Eagle continued "I'd like to apologise to you though, Cub"

Alex stopped glaring and turned to face Eagle, looking mildly interested in what he had to say.

"I feel bad for being so harsh on you – as I said you were and still are just a kid. And it would've made a lot more sense for us to help you if we didn't want you messing up so I'm sorry. Besides if you are actually living with Fox you'll probably be seeing a lot of us over the next month or two so it'd make all our lives easier if we got on" he finished, glancing over at Snake.

Taking the hint Snake began "I owe you an apology too Cub, the way we treated you was unfair and unnecessary. Especially as a medic my concern should've been on treating injuries, not causing them. I truly am sorry"

All eyes turned to Wolf - who now looked pretty guilty.

Coughing slightly, he said "I know you don't like me very much and I suppose I understand why, you do deserve an apology from me and my unit – me especially. I apologise Cub, for what I did at Brecon Beacons. You've certainly earned my respect"

His unit looked confused at the last part but nodded along nonetheless, looking at Alex for a response.

"Fair enough" he conceded. "You seem to be genuine and holding grudges really isn't in anyone's best interests, we should probably start over again"

Offering them a tentative smile he held his hand out towards Eagle "I'm Alex, known to some as Cub"

Shaking it with a smile of his own, "I'm Ethan, known to most as Eagle"

"Jason, also known as Snake"

"Luke and known to a few as Wolf"

Each of them shook his hand as they spoke.

"If you really want to make a fresh start, I'm Ben formerly known to some as Fox and now known to most as Ben and still not known to some at all" Ben grinned holding out a hand.

Wolf cuffed him lightly – by his standards – on the back of his head and Alex shook his head, chuckling.

"And to think I'm safe with you as my guardian!"

"I'll have you know there isn't a lot safer than being in the care of a former SAS turned MI6 agent" Ben proclaimed.

"So Fox is actually your legal guardian?" Eagle asked, sounding surprised.

"I told you, I live here"

"I thought you were just messing with us"

"Why would I do that?"

"Oh I don't know… you did send me falling onto the couch" Wolf jumped in.

Alex snickered, "That was your own fault; better get quicker then hadn't you?"

Wolf growled, appearing eager to lunge at him again.

While Eagle restrained Wolf, Snake cut in "But Cub why are you here? With Fox I mean"

"He's my guardian. As in he is legally obligated to take care of me – which means he is also obligated to provide me with a place to live"

Alex smirked at Snake's frustrated expression.

"You live with him. He takes care of you." Eagle muttered as though trying to process the information.

"From what I know he's not your dad, is he?" Snake wondered, shooting Ben a now suspicious look.

"What?" Ben gasped, looking horrified at the prospect of being old enough to be Alex's father.

"He's 15! I'm 23! It's not possible!" he spluttered.

"You don't exactly look your age Ben…" Alex sniggered.

"And that's not in a good way" Eagle added.

"I've got to admit Fox, the kid's right" Wolf played along.

"Maybe it's the grey hairs, or the wrinkles?" Snake hypothesised as he decided to join in as well.

Then they all burst out laughing as Ben frantically checked his face and hair in his reflection on the TV.

When Ben eventually gave up and their laughter died down, Eagle spoke up "Now this feels like a proper K-Unit reunion"

Murmurs of agreement came from around the room then Wolf turned to Fox. "We would have no need for a reunion if you'd never left us you know" he pointed out.

"Miss me Wolf?"

"Being perfectly honest, yes. We all did"

"Is that why you're all here now? Because you missed me?"

"That and as we said we haven't been on leave since you left so we wanted to see if you were still alive" Eagle explained.

Although the words were playful, ben sensed that his former team mates had been genuinely worried about him.

"Well I missed you guys too" Ben offered.

Feeling slightly out of place, Alex rose to leave. "I'll leave you guys to your unit reunion then"

"But Cub," Eagle took hold of his arm "you're part of the unit too" 

* * *

**Next week is half-term so I'll try to write another chapter soon! And just asking, who likes the characters Ben and Eagle?**


End file.
